Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-04-16
The Gray Bard's Lecture.

Inc tray 1Baf0'S Lecture
WALT WHITMAN TELLS BRILLIANT AUDIENCE THK
STORY OF LINCOLNS MARTYRDOM.
From the n Y World.
Walt Whitman, the venerable white-bs ,,,oa ,,,o+
weak in body, but strong in spirit % sonoropS ~
voice, sat on the stage Of the ,,son sonara Tho
alter yesterday, in the pre- nee Of all the ,terary
celebrities IN tals part or the country and told o,
the murder OF A.aham Lincoln in another thester
{usS s~ent-two years ago. The poet, without
ture d WIS., some ne say In his own country was pic
su,s " wise Old age, and he read his story ia
some OF the best writer's and minds OF the time he
M Was noG unlike seer with his disciples at his feet
hno tale OF the assassination as he tells it has
oeen published frequently and needs no repeti-
uOA mere: In his Introduction, however he an.
Hoenceo mat It was his intention to tell the story
"a Cne martyrdom as he did yesterday on each re-
curing anniversary OF the fatal day. Not because
ne chershes any bitter feelings for the South. on
ye coatrary, ne SAID that like many Others he
war IS fact which can never be forgotten. Al.
ready the war feeling is dying away, and the
living heat and excitement OF their own time and
are being marshalled for casting into the cold and
Dloodless electrotype OF history" '''''
he sat with his leg crossed and his elbow m a
CaDle Deslde MIN, he read easily and f1uentIy and
now and then dramatically On chair to his right
white and blue ribbons the g1ft of Wilson Rarrett
Inc English actor, who holds Whitman In great es
ee S ana would have been present il other duties
nau noG PIeEenCe0. When the old poet had finished
his reading little child the graDddauphter m tho
poet T. c. Stedman, ran in upon the stage and nre-
sented the reader With great bunch of lilaeS The
Oiu man Kissed ner again and again and caspe The
tGe one 10 MS nns0m, while the tears came to his
eyes anu the audience applauded. The lilacs
mere paItiGulary appropriate for in his lecture
lne poeC Cells now the scent OF those flowers al
ways brings to his mind the terrible events or that
i4tn OF Aprli, 1865. AS he passed to the theafer
before Lincoln was Shot he went by bush cnvered
with the blossoms, which perfumed the am and 1
nehce Ine connection OF two incidents Seemingly
bearing so little relation to each other S
AS salo ABOVE, The audience was brilliant mo
James Russell Lowell sat In one box and the noef
Stedman In another. With Mr. Lowell Svas i BE-
norton, OF harvard College. In the 6osiv Of the
house were Rev. DR.. Van Dyke, ST. panTsr % t the
sculptor; MOncure ID. Conway, Andrew Carnoasts.
MIS- francis Hodgson Kurnstt the novelist. ~;
6urLSougns, nature lover and writer: rev. e. "a
Wafu I Eggi9sIoh, " Wooster SchoOlmassera fsma
SHi. Jonn nay, ne who wrote Little Breeches.:
Maly Mabes poage Lawrence Hutton. Richar
gentleman Of the Century irs ,auaes ana
Nr. KosWeA smith and his vie: Mrs Htno,'
Mn MT =: D. FOote, Joel RodtOn President Giioon
" JOnns hopkins University: Harry EdwordS
ID; r,a an Z. d. Alien, and many others a.
~, icy Were al friends OF the old man and arto.
hin SIw ,E c.vMoed upon the stage and greeted
ond i ~*asny, sne men shaking him by the hand
Then be was borne away again "a the Wast again.
Ser a9sel Wnere he is stopping and in the evening
ne nelu sort OF levee, ali his friends %atharingg
again 10 40 him honor, so that the old 1nssn,S SaS
again. Az "op' S"isiy now ana
In In conversation he said that he might 90 to Emo
ANU s4!S summer, but as yet he had not dera,
M!ned whether or not to make the tim ne vii
Rnomsta DOok OF prose and poetry this fall tn he
Aoo"A IA "NOVemDer RQuGhSn w wv